The oXya blog

What are the benefits of the Cloud?

With the ever changing approach to The Cloud, we have taken a closer look at what this all means to the SAP community.

The majority of IT experts stress the benefits of switching to cloud-based applications, which could be based on the following areas:

Cost savings (26.9%) , Improved mobility support (25.9%), Time savings (22%), Fast implementation (18.5%), Better for the environment (12.6%), Elasticity to scale up or down as needed (11%), Outsourced system support and maintenance (10.9%).

A major advantage of software virtualisation cloud is that it lets you “park” specific SAP services. For example, you can simply switch off a development system that you don’t need and move it to a storage system. The freed-up server resources are then available for another service, making sound practical sense for services requiring more server capacity for short periods – such as the monthly payroll run in a HR system.

This system requires a very large capacity for a short period at the end of each month – which the responsible server must be capable of provisioning – but needs only 5% of this capacity for the rest of the month. For example, In a FlexFrame environment, you could move your SAP service to a powerful server just before the payroll run and then return it to a “parked” position again afterwards.

Let’s focus on four crucial areas.

Benefit 1: Flexibility

Network Dependency means independence from the office. Employees can now access data from servers outside the office and not hard-wired in-house servers—creating a more agile and mobile work lifestyle for organizations. Cloud flexibility not only improves situations for employees but also across implementation and new technologies without high risk and cost.

Because companies aren’t bound to a hard-wired IT infrastructure that costs billions to create in the first place, they have room to experiment and adjust. giving them the ability to revert back to their original system if things do not work out.

Benefit 2: Cost reduction and increased efficiency

The low barrier of entry and the pay-per-use model offered by cloud computing makes it versatile. It’s scalable for large corporations and affordable for small ones. Since a massive amount of resources aren’t needed for everyone, they can be leased to other clients, meaning cost can be divided.

A cloud provider offers an infinite amount of resources, and because of reduced cost and time, everyone can focus their efforts on being more efficient.

Benefit 3: Reliability

While internet connectivity or potential outages are a rare occurrence in cloud computing, there is still consistently more reliability, in comparison, to in-house systems because of the economies of scale. The vendor is able to give 24/7 technical support and highly trained experienced staff to support the infrastructure, with the benefits reaching all clients. Compare this to each organisation having a team of on-site IT people with a varied skill set.

Benefit 4: Security gains

The Cloud gives the ability to implement low-cost security systems, which can be of particular benefit to companies who are looking to reduce security budgets. It already provides up to date knowledge of current issues and the hardware to implement measures to prevent, deter, detect and correct any issues; A crucial advantage to those who may have less security technology know-how to apply these themselves.

As with any new data system, it’s important to plan and consider all areas that will be affected. However, it is clear that if implemented properly, a step into cloud computing will help businesses grow without breaking their budget or resources.